I discovered Lisa Jewell earlier this year, and devoured ‘The Family Upstairs’ and ‘The House We Grew Up In’. This latest novel did not disappoint. It’s got the usual domestic setting, and beautifully-drawn characters, and some great twists and turns that leave you guessing until the last page.
I really like Lisa Jewell’s depiction of her characters, and she creates strong female leads in her novels. In this novel, 17-year old Saffyre has problems (“When I was ten years old something really, really bad happened to me. Let’s maybe not get into that too deep.”) and Cate, in her 40s, also has problems (“He is her husband. He hates her. She knows he does. And it’s her fault.”) . The men in their lives, a local college teacher, Cate’s husband and son, and Saffyre’s uncle, provide an often-hapless, sympathetically-painted supporting cast.
This novel deals with the theme of invisibility in its metaphoric sense: the desire to be invisible, the need to be invisible, and the unwanted burden of being invisible. All of the characters are affected by this in some way, and I’m not sure that Saffyre, ‘The Invisible Girl’, is really the most invisible character in the novel.
This is a great read if you’re looking for a thriller with a domestic setting. It’s a definite page-turner with good characterisation.
(Review originally written in August 2020)
- Publisher : Century (6 Aug. 2020)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 416 pages
- ISBN-10 : 178089922X
- ISBN-13 : 978-1780899220
Wordy Witterings 